Adaptogen Foods May Aid Stress-Related Hair Loss Prevention
Believing you can stave off hair loss by staying healthy is a little like thinking you can avoid a cold in the winter by topping up on vitamin C: there may be a grain of truth in it, but the number of factors at play make this a complete uncertainty.
However, a growing body of evidence which is starting to turn heads in medical circles suggests that we can all go above and beyond healthy eating and keeping fit by ingesting a group of foods known as adaptogens which may actually rival any number of gym sessions and leafy green dinners.
Could these reduce the chances of somebody experiencing a hair loss condition? It certainly seems a remote possibility... in some cases.
An article in the Daily Telegraph delved into the world of adaptogen foods and reported on findings published in the science journal Pharmaceuticals, which noted that a number of clinical trials had demonstrated that adaptogens could increase mental attention, endurance and work capacity against a background of stress.
It is the word "stress" here that is relevant, as several hair loss conditions list stress as a key trigger. The most common of these is a temporary hair thinning condition called telogen effluvium, which mostly affects women but can also present in men, and happens as the result of an incident which somehow causes upheaval to the body. Stress - either emotional or physical - is suspected in many cases.
Most of the time, the hairloss that telogen effluvium causes will only last a few months and normal service will be resumed once the disruption has passed; telogen effluvium treatment is available when this does not happen. At Belgravia, treatment for the condition as well as diffuse hair loss treatment, which describes telogen effluvium after it persists for a year or more can be effective and primarily makes use of topically-applied high strength minoxidil from the formulations available at the clinics' in-house pharmacies.
What is especially interesting about the Telegraph article is that many of the adaptogens listed also crop up regularly in discussions about natural hair loss remedies none of which have been clinically proven to be effective, but whose repute as potential cures continues to linger.
Among them are turmeric, a favourite of many an Indian restaurant, and ginseng, which is mentioned in countless Chinese herbal recipes. Blindly reaching for the spice rack in the hope of cheating hair loss, however, is not to be recommended especially when certain plants are potentially dangerous to some people. St Johns wort, for example, renders the contraceptive pill ineffective. More alarmingly still was the case in which a man died after taking up to 3kg of Chinese knotweed, a traditional medicine sometimes used in the far east to treat male pattern hair loss. As this is a genetic condition pre-ordained by a person's DNA few western doctors would entertain the notion that it can be avoided without proven pharmaceutical intervention, known as male pattern baldness treatment. That said, scientists in Korea think that Chinese Mallow, long known for its anti-inflammatory properties, may turn out to be some kind of "miracle cure".
The notion of feeding hair from within is certainly a sound one, but no studies have yet proven that foods of any kind can either stop hair loss or make new ones grow. Indeed, hair loss treatment courses devised by the experts at Belgravia are generally built upon clinically-proven medications although it is equally true to say that these are bolstered by hair growth boosters which are designed to maximise the chances of regrowth by either stimulating the follicles or nourishing them.
Hair Vitalics, for example, is a premium food supplement for healthy hair growth developed exclusively for The Belgravia Centre by the clinics' hair experts. Following research, they identified crucial vitamins, minerals, amino acids and botanical extracts that were beneficial to the hair’s health. In addition to key nutrients including biotin, zinc and selenium, both the Hair Vitalics For Men and Hair Vitalics For Women formulations of these one-a-day tablets also feature elements unlikely to feature in a normal diet. In the former, Saw Palmetto was chosen as it has been shown to reduce levels of DHT in the bloodstream; in the women's formulation, the soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein were selected for the same reason.
However, a growing body of evidence which is starting to turn heads in medical circles suggests that we can all go above and beyond healthy eating and keeping fit by ingesting a group of foods known as adaptogens which may actually rival any number of gym sessions and leafy green dinners.
Could these reduce the chances of somebody experiencing a hair loss condition? It certainly seems a remote possibility... in some cases.
Increase mental attention
An article in the Daily Telegraph delved into the world of adaptogen foods and reported on findings published in the science journal Pharmaceuticals, which noted that a number of clinical trials had demonstrated that adaptogens could increase mental attention, endurance and work capacity against a background of stress.
It is the word "stress" here that is relevant, as several hair loss conditions list stress as a key trigger. The most common of these is a temporary hair thinning condition called telogen effluvium, which mostly affects women but can also present in men, and happens as the result of an incident which somehow causes upheaval to the body. Stress - either emotional or physical - is suspected in many cases.
Most of the time, the hairloss that telogen effluvium causes will only last a few months and normal service will be resumed once the disruption has passed; telogen effluvium treatment is available when this does not happen. At Belgravia, treatment for the condition as well as diffuse hair loss treatment, which describes telogen effluvium after it persists for a year or more can be effective and primarily makes use of topically-applied high strength minoxidil from the formulations available at the clinics' in-house pharmacies.
What is especially interesting about the Telegraph article is that many of the adaptogens listed also crop up regularly in discussions about natural hair loss remedies none of which have been clinically proven to be effective, but whose repute as potential cures continues to linger.
Among them are turmeric, a favourite of many an Indian restaurant, and ginseng, which is mentioned in countless Chinese herbal recipes. Blindly reaching for the spice rack in the hope of cheating hair loss, however, is not to be recommended especially when certain plants are potentially dangerous to some people. St Johns wort, for example, renders the contraceptive pill ineffective. More alarmingly still was the case in which a man died after taking up to 3kg of Chinese knotweed, a traditional medicine sometimes used in the far east to treat male pattern hair loss. As this is a genetic condition pre-ordained by a person's DNA few western doctors would entertain the notion that it can be avoided without proven pharmaceutical intervention, known as male pattern baldness treatment. That said, scientists in Korea think that Chinese Mallow, long known for its anti-inflammatory properties, may turn out to be some kind of "miracle cure".
Feeding hair from within
The notion of feeding hair from within is certainly a sound one, but no studies have yet proven that foods of any kind can either stop hair loss or make new ones grow. Indeed, hair loss treatment courses devised by the experts at Belgravia are generally built upon clinically-proven medications although it is equally true to say that these are bolstered by hair growth boosters which are designed to maximise the chances of regrowth by either stimulating the follicles or nourishing them.
Hair Vitalics, for example, is a premium food supplement for healthy hair growth developed exclusively for The Belgravia Centre by the clinics' hair experts. Following research, they identified crucial vitamins, minerals, amino acids and botanical extracts that were beneficial to the hair’s health. In addition to key nutrients including biotin, zinc and selenium, both the Hair Vitalics For Men and Hair Vitalics For Women formulations of these one-a-day tablets also feature elements unlikely to feature in a normal diet. In the former, Saw Palmetto was chosen as it has been shown to reduce levels of DHT in the bloodstream; in the women's formulation, the soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein were selected for the same reason.
The Belgravia Centre
The Belgravia Centre is a world-renowned group of a hair loss clinic in Central London, UK. If you are worried about hair loss you can arrange a free consultation with a hair loss expert or complete our Online Consultation from anywhere in the world for home-use treatment.
View our Hair Loss Success Stories, which includes the world's largest gallery of hair growth photos and demonstrates the level of success that so many of Belgravia's patients achieve.
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